The Real World of Magic
by 7sinsmelody
Summary: Delve again into Witchcraft and Wizardry. After the Battle of Hogwarts the school is now excepting new students. Sorted out into the famous houses; Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Sylitherin. Follow Amber Halin on her journey through the school and the ever curious world of magic. Revisit old haunts of Harry Potter, such as Hogsmead, the Forbidden Forest and Diagon Ally.
1. Chapter 1

The thundering sky was black, the dawn could not break through the heavy clouds. Rain filled the air. One disgruntled owl, unluckily caught in the storm, perched under a roof ledge letting the extra weight of the water slide off his feathers before continuing on his mission. The letter he held in his beak was not so rain proof. It resembled a soggy clump around a bright red seal. The owl shook once more and swoop back out into the fray.

In a small cottage a muggle family of four were going through their morning routine. The day beginning a bit dreary for the boy, was beginning blissfully well for his younger sister. They were twins, not identical, but twins all the same. Their birthday was a few days ago. It was very fun for them both, but this was the day the boy's father had promised him they could fly his new plane. And the rain ruined it all. Now his father snored by the fire with his radio playing muggle news. The boy brooded sleepily, waiting for his breakfast. The girl worked hard in the kitchen with her mother preparing a traditional rainy day family feast. This was one of her favorite things. Cooking and chatting with her mother was clearly enjoyable to her. When she asked her brother to set the table, he gloomily complided. It was clear to her that the cloud over his head was darker than the ones outside.

As the muggle family sat down to breakfast, with the warm fire at their backs and the hot food and sweet cakes, the pitter-patter of the rain grew.

THUNK!

"What the hell!" Mr. Halin stood up and went to the window throwing back the forest green curtains.

"What is it sweetie?" Mrs. Halin asked holding her white cotton napkin to her mouth.

"It's an owl. Amber, Alan come see." They rushed over. It was a tawny barn owl carrying a soggy paper with a bright red seal.

"What's it got in it's beak!" Alan tapped the glass. The owl blinked slowly and tapped back with its beak. Shaking its feathers, it wondered how long these muggles would stare at it before they opened the window.

"Well, it looks like a letter. Could it be someone owns this owl da?" Amber wondered why anyone would send them a letter by owl, but in this storm she supposed it could just be lost.

"Should we open the window? The poor creature looks drenched." Mrs. Halin joined them at the window.

"Alright, but likely it will just fly off when we do." Mr. Halin unhooked the latch and slid the window open. To the muggles utmost surprise the owl calmly hopped in and glided to the table where it promptly delivered it's charge.

"Oh my!" Mrs. Halin exclaimed.

Mr. Halin was first to react he ran around the table, Alan at his heels. Their arms outstretched to keep the unwelcome bird from heading deeper into their home. Amber watched the owl as it helped itself to a nibble of some fresh savory scone and then flew out the way it came.

"Well. That was a first wasn't it." Mr. Halin said going over to his wife.

"That was awesome!" Alan laughed sitting back to his breakfast. Excitement fueling his hunger. Amber walked over to the table to inspect the soggy clump on the table. SHe picked it up by the wax seal, looking over the symbol stamped in it.

"Hogwarts. What's that?" Amber looked to Alan, he just shrugged.

"Oh Amber do wash up after touching that. You don't know where it's been." Mrs. Halin said fixing the curtains back into place after closing the window.

"Mom, that owl dropped this. It's a letter- no it's two! Look here." Amber pulled the wet letters apart from each other.

"Well look at that. We should dry them out before they tear, perhaps we might even make out a few words out of the mysterious letters." Mr. Halin took them and laid them carefully on the hearth letting the warm stone dry them slowly.

After all the excitement the family settled down for rainy day games and reading. All the while Amber kept glancing over at the letters. Hogwarts was a funny name, she couldn't stop wondering what it was all about.

Finally her father said what she had been waiting for all day.

"Let's see what those letters say, hmm? They should be dry enough." Mr. Halin picked up one of the wrinkled letters. With the family cozy in around the fireplace Mr. Halin broke open the seal and pulled the letter from its sleeve. The ink was badly smeared, but then right before his eyes it cleared and the ink slid back into place on the page forming the words in a beautiful cursive script. Mr. Halin started, he blinked several times as if to clear his vision.

"Honey, are you alright?" Mrs. Halin asked considerately.

"Yes, I just thought I saw...Well nevermind."

"Is it legible?"

"Yes, yes. Here it says,"

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall

 _(Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Member of the First and Second Order of the Phoenix, Head of Transfiguration, Protector of Hogwarts)_

Dear Ms. Amber Liv Halin,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1st of September. We await your owl by no later than 31st of July.

Yours sincerely,

Pomona Sprout

Deputy Headmistress

"And there is a odd looking list on the next page. What do you make of it Laura?" Mr. Halin looked to his wife, who in turn stared at him in complete bewilderment.

"What does the second letter say da?" Alan asked excitedly. He had peaked a few minutes before and saw his name above the address.

"I think someone is playing a gag on us. This isn't a real school. Witchcraft and wizardry and magic just aren't real. And I have never heard of this Hogwarts. You know what school you will be attending after holiday. Why entertaining this is just silly nonsense! Really this is a joke." Mr. Halin stood and strutted out of the room on some business he needed to attend to in the other room. Amber scooped up the letter off his abandoned arm chair and reread it. She read to the list of oddities she might need if she were to attend this Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 1 (continued)

Chapter Continued:

Amber and Alan sat together on the floor in Amber's room discussing what Hogwarts might be like and what special powers they might have.

"I think it's kept secret by the government."

"Maybe they don't even know." Amber was feeling anxious. Their parents didn't want to encourage the joke so they told them to stop talking about it and throw the letters away. They keep them of course, now hiding in her room to talk in secret.

"How do you think we can get to a place no one has ever heard of? And what about this list? We can't very well pick up, "A History of Magic" in the local book store."

"Amber, we need to get wands! How far do you think Diagon Alley is?" Alan was looking over a map of London circling places he thought to be magical.

"Alan that is ridiculous. 'Wands' are baby toys, and fairy tale stuff. This is all a joke like mom and da said. We should throw these away like they told us to and stop being silly." Amber stood up and set her letter and list carefully in the wastebasket. She felt conflicted and wanted to be alone.

Alan sensed his dismissal and left the room before they got into a fight. He didn't like when his sister was bossy, he was older than her. Alan noticed the rain had died down a bit. He really couldn't wait any longer to try out his plane.

"Hey da, the rains stopped! Can we please-!" Alan stopped short inside the hall doorway. Sitting with his parents, on one of the cushioned arm chairs was a man.

"Ah! And this must be the young lad. Hello Alan! I am Monsieur O'donele!" The man rose to shake Alan's hand. "Please to make your acquaintance." He was an oddly dressed fellow to Alan. Monsieur O'donele wore typical wizard robes, in deep blue with silver and black hem.

"Would you like any tea, Monsieur O'donele?" Mrs. Halin rose halfway off her seat as she spoke. Monsieur O'donele waved her back into her seat, "You are too kind. But alas, I am under a severe time limit and there is no way to get back lost time." He winked at Alan. "All we need is the presence of the other future student and I can begin."

"Ah, uh, Amber! Amber come downstairs please!" Mr. Halin called from the couch.

Amber arrived and surveyed the scene. She was quite surprised to see an oddly dressed stranger sitting with her family.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know we had company. I didn't hear the bell." Amber sat next to her da on the couch.

"That's okay dear, he didn't use the door." Mr. Halin said somewhat deadpan. Amber looked at her father like he was making a joke, but she didn't think he was.

"Hello Amber, I am Monsieur O'donele. I am Ministry Consultant on Muggle Affairs. This year Hogwarts has asked me to meet with the muggle families of young witches and wizards in order to encourage their attendance. And to help with the initial shock of it all, along with the transition into the Wizarding community. I am also here to support you, Mr. and Mrs. Halin, as parents you want to feel comfortable and that your children will be safe. And I can assure you, there is no place safer than Hogwarts." Monsieur O'donele reached into his briefcase and pulled out four paper-clipped packets and handed them out. "These are packets I have prepared for you in order to answer your questions in depth."

"What is a muggle?" Alan asked with his classic inquisitive look. Amber could see he was testing the waters. She was wondering, 'Was all this real?'

"Ah, well, Muggle is to be a non-magical person. Therefore your parents being Muggles makes you and your sister Muggle-born. You are still a wizard, it just refers to lineage. I too am Muggle-born." He answered with a friendly smile. "This is good, any other questions?"

"We can do magic?" Amber asked reluctantly. She felt extremely silly the moment the words were out of her mouth.

"Have you ever done something you couldn't explain? Made something move without touching it?" Monsieur O'donele leaned forward resting his hands on his knees.

"Uh, no, not that I can remember.." Amber blinked rapidly.

"Oh, that is odd." He said offhandedly. Amber looked away abashed. "Not to worry child, Hogwarts is the place for you to learn and grow in Witchcraft. You'll be casting spells in no time, just not here in the Muggle world, as a rule." Monsieur O'donele looked to the boy and asked, "Have you ever done any magical things?"

"Uh, maybe... yeah, I think, I can remember making my books fall over, once." Amber stared daggers at him. He was lying and she knew it. If he had ever done anything as close to that he would have told her and made sure she believed him. Alan didn't meet her eyes.

"Well there you go! Now I think that I'll be getting off, lots more to do."

"Now wait a second, I am trying to be reasonable and open minded. I mean you just appeared in here out of thin air a minute ago! You can't leave without explaining how you did that! Or tell us our kids are being shipped off to boarding school; that they are part of a secret world and then be off!" Mr. Halin in his passion had sat up straight and pointed to the ceiling in emphases.

"Fair enough. But talk is not going to help you believe. I know, I have tried, there is just too much! Seeing is believing. Don't you agree?" Monsieur O'donele waved his hand in the air once and produced a slip of parchment and quill. And begun writing. "Here I will cancel my other appointments for today. Surely they can find a suitable replacement in time. And we shall take a field trip to Diagon Alley!" As soon as he lifted the quill it vanished with a snap and sparks. Monsieur O'donele stood abruptly, and when the Halin's still sat, he motioned for them to stand.

"Surely you don't mean right now?" Mrs. Halin spoke up rising from her seat.

"I certainly do. No time like the present. Plus! The early bird gets the best deals at Twilfitt Tattings."

"I'll go get my coat!" Alan ran out, Amber ran after him. She wanted to talk to him about lying, at the very least find out why he would do that.

"Alan! Why-?" He stopped her with a hand in front of her face.

"Amber. I don't have to explain anything to you. Look, I know what you're gonna say, and well I think it was pretty clear that we are supposed to have already discovered that we have magic. So I just thought that if neither of us have, then maybe we wouldn't be able to go. And I have to go. I mean you saw what he did right! That was so cool! So just keep it to yourself and maybe we will both do that someday." He shrugged his coat on and stepped by her. In all of their eleven years she had never heard him say anything so self serving. Even though she was disgusted by the principle of lying, she still would stay quiet. What if she wasn't able to learn magic, would they kick her out? Amber put on her best trench coat and purple scarf. She wanted to impress the next Witch or Wizard she met, they wouldn't know she hasn't done magic and this time she wouldn't say anything.

"All set then?" Monsieur O'donele gathered them close and held up an empty coffee tin. "Everyone grab a firm hold on the tin." Once again he was met with quiet reluctance and looks that people usually reserve for great acts of stupidity. "Hah! You will all have to trust me. Just grab it, quickly now." Each in turn grab a portion of the coffee tin. "This ordinary coffee tin has been enchanted. It is what we call a Port Key. The ride will be a bit alarming to be sure but just hold on tight and I will tell you when to let go. Take a deep breath!" And they were gone. The fire burned out as fast as if it were a candle.


End file.
